Percy

"The fireworks are tonight," Annabeth commented as she appeared next to me on the Big House porch.

I was sitting on one of the Adirondack chairs outside the old house, enjoying the afternoon before dinner. She was right; the annual summer fireworks were going to be happening on the beach later.

"Hey," I smiled. "Done with work?"

"For the week, thankfully," she said as she drifted over, taking my hand casually as she reached me.

In the days following Apate and Dolus' defeat, we'd talked a lot about what we wanted to do next. Annabeth didn't want to leave the city, and I didn't want that for her. Her company was her life's work, and I didn't want anything to mess with that. But I was needed here for the rest of the summer, so we agreed we had to figure out an alternate arrangement. As solid as our relationship was, it was also new, and we didn't want to spend the whole summer apart if we didn't have to.

Annabeth had ended up setting up a hybrid schedule, so she was spending Friday and Monday working remotely from camp, and then heading back to the city Tuesday through Thursday. It was working for us, and it gave us time to be together while still making sure things weren't changing too quickly. At the end of the summer, I'd return to my job in the city and we'd figure out what life in New York was like for us as adults.

"So, the fireworks," she said again, our hands dangling between us, connecting us through the empty space. "Is that still the social event of the season here?"

"Oh yeah, Chiron always has a field day afterwards dissecting everything that happens," I raised an eyebrow at her. "Why, are you asking me to go to the fireworks with you?"

She let out a laugh, and my heart did a little flutter. I would never get tired of hearing her laugh again, that much I was sure of.

"Absolutely not, Seaweed Brain. You made me ask you the last time, when we were 14. I'm not doing all the heavy lifting here."

I feigned being hurt before pulling her down into my lap, and she let out what sounded like a pleasantly surprised yelp. I buried my face into her neck and pressed a kiss to her pulse point. She sighed and draped her arm around the back of my neck, securing herself on my lap.

"Don't remind me. And I'm pretty sure you told me we were going to fireworks together; you never asked. Not that I'm complaining." I hadn't been the smartest 14 year old, but then again, what teenage boy knew exactly what he was doing when it came to girls?

She laughed again, and we sat in silence for a few moments as I distractedly twirled one of her curls around my finger. Soon enough, I noticed her overthinking face take over.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

She almost looked embarrassed, which sometimes happened when I caught her mid-thought, like she hadn't been fast enough or sneaky enough with whatever she was contemplating. She took another moment before answering me.

"Just thinking about all the fireworks we missed out on."

In the few weeks that we'd been back together, things had been going great. Most days it felt just like it did when we were 22, but there was a lot of anger and grief there, too. We had our fair share of sleepless nights trying to grapple with the fact that we'd had ten years taken from us. A night or two after everything calmed down, there were a lot of tears shed as the reality of our situation fully set in for both of us. Annabeth was more upset, but I was angry. Angry at the gods, the Fates, Apate and Dolus, everybody.

Unfortunately, I learned a long time ago that anger wasn't going to fix anything. The best we could do was try and find a way to move forward together. The only thing that mattered was that she was with me again.

I gently pulled her head down so it was resting on my shoulder and kissed her forehead. The afternoon was fading into evening, the air was still, and it was peaceful. I saw Phillip and Cara across the field, scurrying off the beach, hand in hand, so the Hephaestus kids could start setting up the fireworks. He stopped to kiss her when he thought no one was looking, and I smiled. Something inside of me felt still for the first time in a long time. The familiar call of the dinner conch echoed in the distance.

"Come on," I said, nudging both of us up from our seat and taking both of her hands to pull her off the porch. "Let's go get some dinner. And then after, Annabeth, will you go to the fireworks with me?"

She smiled too, that wide smile that made her eyes crinkle at the corners. I'd waited a long time to see that smile again. I had been so desperate to see it on the night we reconnected, more than I realized at the time. It took a while in the weeks that followed, but she kept me hoping. A small smile in the New York Public Library, a smile in her voice when she called me a few days later. Then, when it finally happened, when she called me Seaweed Brain again and gave me that beautiful, full smile in the sparring ring, I didn't think I was ever going to recover. Now, it was my everyday again, and I admittedly did thank the gods for that.

She took a moment before responding, like she was thinking about something similar.

"Always, Percy. Always."

A/N: I didn't intend to write a Percy POV epilogue but it's just what came out! Thanks so much for reading and following along every week guys. I'm seriously crying that this is done. I hope you all liked it. You can find me on tumblr for non-PJO content, but I'm sure I'll be posting more PJO here in the future.